Location: The Fortress Courtyard - Aftermath
The dust of Lucius’s devastating strike finally settled, leaving a cratered landscape reeking of ozone, charred earth, and spilled blood. The victory had been absolute, but the cost was etched into the faces of the survivors.
Seventeen Holy Knights lay dead, their silver armor crushed by the abyssal magic of the vanguard demons. Four Church Heroes, veterans of countless skirmishes, had been butchered in Crimson Scarlet’s terrifying, gleeful dance. Among the surviving Church forces, Caleb leaned heavily against a shattered stone pillar, his face pale as chalk. His right arm was gone, cleanly severed at the shoulder, the stump heavily bandaged and glowing with the residual, desperate healing magic of his surviving comrades. He lived, but his days on the frontline were over.
A few yards away, Shiori was aggressively wrapping a thick bandage tightly around Shota’s torso.
"Ow! Shiori-san, ease up!" Shota hissed, wincing as the pressure flared against his cracked ribs.
"I will not ease up," Shiori snapped, her violet eyes flashing with a rare, unfiltered anger. Her newly white hair fell over her shoulders as she tied the knot with zero gentleness. "What you did was monumentally stupid. Stabbing yourself to trigger a theoretical curse? If Vane hadn't kicked you, if he had swung that greatsword instead, you would be in two pieces right now."
Shota looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. "It worked, didn't it? He was too tough. We had to exploit the System."
"We exploit the System with strategy, not by using ourselves as blood sacrifices!" Shiori’s voice trembled slightly before she forced herself to calm down, exhaling a long breath. She placed a hand on his shoulder, her tone softening. "Just... don't do those risky moves again, Shota. Please. I can't lose any of you."
Before Shota could reply, the heavy clanking of metal drew their attention.
Lucius was walking through the courtyard. He dragged General Vane behind him. The colossal traitor was stripped of his abyssal armor, bound entirely in thick, glowing chains etched with anti-magic runes that hissed against his skin. Vane was still unconscious, completely neutralized.
Lucius stopped a few paces from Shiori. His celestial blue eyes looked at her, but they seemed to look through her. He felt less like a person and more like a beautifully carved statue.
"I will be taking the traitor to the Capital," Lucius stated, his voice a melodic, chilling monotone. "The high-security penitentiary beneath the Grand Cathedral is the only place equipped to hold him. It is a far journey from here."
He opened his hand. Resting perfectly in his silver gauntlet was a perfectly cut, glowing Sapphire magical stone. He held it out to Shiori.
"The Kingdom requests that the Summoned Heroes rest," Lucius continued. "Proceed to the nearest allied city. Keep this stone. If you face an emergency that threatens the Vanguard's survival, channel your mana into it. I will teleport to your coordinates."
Shiori took the sapphire. It was freezing to the touch. "Thank you, Lord Lucius. But regarding the nature of the demons we faced today..."
"You do not need to concern yourself with the traitor, or the remnants of this fortress," Lucius interrupted, his tone leaving absolutely no room for debate. "I will handle him with no problem. Rest, Hero."
Without waiting for her to speak another word, Lucius turned. A blinding flash of holy light enveloped him and the unconscious Vane. When Shiori blinked, they were completely gone.
"He could have at least stayed to help carry the wounded," Kazura muttered, helping Yoshi to his feet nearby.
"Forget it," Shiori sighed, pocketing the sapphire. "Let's gather the others. We're moving out."
Location: The Road South
A detachment of ten surviving Holy Knights escorted Shiori, her classmates, and Saintess Evelyn away from the ruined fortress. They marched steadily through the clearing snow, heading south toward civilization.
"I'm just saying, the guy is a massive cheater," Shota grumbled, leaning heavily on a wooden staff he was using as a crutch. "He shows up, doesn't even chant, blasts a skyscraper to dust, and then teleports away. How is the System balanced if an NPC like that exists?"
Saintess Evelyn, walking gracefully beside them, covered her mouth to hide a small, amused smile. "Do not be discouraged, Hero Shota. You are Summoned Heroes. With enough leveling and time, you will reach Lord Lucius's heights."
"Who exactly is he, Evelyn?" Shiori asked, her analytical mind still picking apart the encounter. "He doesn't feel like a normal Church Hero. He didn't even react to Crimson Scarlet."
"That is because Lucius is not of Frontierra," Evelyn explained, her tone turning deeply reverent. "He was born in the neighboring holy nation of Sunderland. When he was just an infant, the High Cardinals discovered the mark of the Goddess Kamiya directly upon his soul. He is the true Chosen One."
Yua blinked, adjusting her glasses. "Wait... if he's a legend, how old is he?"
"Over a century," Evelyn replied smoothly, causing the students to choke on their own spit. "The Goddess granted him a slowed aging process to continue his holy work. He has fought the Abyss for over a hundred years. The International Church elevated him beyond national borders. He answers to no single King, only to the Pope and the Goddess."
"If he's that strong," Yoshi chimed in, "why hasn't he just marched down to Floor 100 and killed the Demon Lord himself?"
Evelyn's smile faltered slightly. "He tried. Decades ago, Lucius marched into the Outland Dungeon alone. He cleared ninety-nine floors. But when he reached the gateway to Floor 100... he could not enter. A spatial barrier forged of absolute, fundamental magic repelled him. It is said only the combined powers of the Summoned Heroes can break that final seal."
Evelyn looked ahead at the horizon. "He also has history with the Abyssal Reaper, Crimson Scarlet. They clashed during the massacre of Year 104. The history books do not show a clear victor. Only that Lucius survived, and Scarlet retreated."
Shiori touched the sapphire in her pocket. He couldn't enter Floor 100, she thought. The System blocked him. The Goddess’s ultimate weapon couldn't reach the final boss. The puzzle pieces were jumbled, but she was slowly starting to see a terrifying picture.
By late afternoon, the sprawling metropolis came into view.
It was breathtaking. The city of Cyanis, the Azure Jewel of the North. Massive, sweeping walls constructed entirely of deep blue, enchanted stone protected the perimeter. The rooftops of the sprawling manors and guildhalls were lined with shimmering cerulean tiles that caught the fading sunlight.
As the Vanguard passed through the massive iron gates, Shiori immediately tensed. She observed everything—the guard rotations, the width of the alleys, the positioning of the archer towers. The memory of the previous noble village, where they had been celebrated and then thrown into politics, still left a bitter taste in her mouth. She didn't want any more trouble.
But Cyanis was different. It was a bustling, chaotic merchant hub. The streets were crowded with beast-kin carrying crates, armored mercenaries haggling with blacksmiths, and mages carrying floating stacks of books. Nobody stopped to throw a parade. To the citizens of Cyanis, the exhausted, battered teenagers covered in dirt and blood just looked like another high-ranking adventurer party returning from a rough dungeon raid. For the first time in weeks, they were practically invisible.
Location: Floor 100 - The Absolute Abyss
Far beneath the earth, Kyouya Kusanagi was having a catastrophic metaphysical crisis.
His body was still reduced to a massive puddle of dark violet slime. The System interface in his mind was a blinding wall of crimson red error notifications. The sentient glitch within his [Absolute Gluttony of Everything] was stubbornly, violently attempting to absorb the Immortal Demon Lord.
<Host, the spatial parameters are tearing,> Nova’s voice crackled, sounding genuinely stressed. <I am force-looping the bypass code. Redirecting target’s physical vessel to [Infinite Inventory]. Redirecting target’s soul signature to [Host Core System].>
Sofia Vileblood stood perfectly still as the dark slime slowly enveloped her boots, then her knees, then her waist. She didn't fight it. She just watched with mild, arrogant curiosity as Kyouya's broken logic circuits fought the world's absolute laws.
"Take your time, Kyouya," Sofia teased, looking down as the slime reached her chest. "I have all eternity."
Suddenly, the red screens shattered. A brilliant, terrifying flash of purple code completely overrode the System's foundational law.
With a soft, rushing sound, Sofia Vileblood vanished.
The violet slime aggressively retracted, pooling back together and rapidly shifting upward. Bones cracked, flesh reformed, and Kyouya Kusanagi stood up, gasping for air as he returned to his human form. His dark suit was immaculate once more. He fell to his knees, gripping his chest as his MP slowly regenerated from zero.
"Nova..." Kyouya panted, cold sweat dripping down his face. "Where is she? Did we accidentally delete her?"
<Negative, Host. The forced absorption took considerable time and processor bandwidth, but it was successful. Entity: Sofia Vileblood did not die.>
Kyouya blinked. "Then where is she?"
<Her physical vessel remains perfectly preserved and unhurt within your [Infinite Inventory]. However, due to her Immortal status, her consciousness could not be stored in a static space. Her soul has been symbiotically linked with your System network.>
A rather cramped network, I might add, a melodic, highly amused voice suddenly echoed directly inside Kyouya's brain.
Kyouya jumped, clutching his head. "Sofia?"
The one and only, Sofia’s voice purred in his mind. It feels like I am sitting in a dark theater, watching the world through your eyes. Highly irregular, but incredibly effective for smuggling.
"We did it," Kyouya breathed, a massive, triumphant grin spreading across his face. He had just successfully kidnapped the final boss of the world.
But his triumph lasted exactly two seconds.
<Alert,> Nova chimed, a strange, hesitant buzz in the AI's tone. <Host, the sentient glitch within the Gluttony skill triggered a secondary error sequence during the absorption process. I could not block it. It is automatically activating an organic sensory override.>
"Wait, what? Override of what?" Kyouya demanded.
[SYSTEM ERROR: Target Entity Absorbed.]
[Forced Sensory Feedback Initiated: TASTE.]
Kyouya gasped. His eyes widened to an impossible degree. Suddenly, his tastebuds were violently flooded with an overwhelming, absolute sensory experience. It was the taste of the Demon Lord's soul. It tasted like incredibly aged, intoxicatingly rich dark velvet wine, mixed with the metallic, sharp tang of iron, and an underlying sweetness of dark chocolate and crushed roses. It was so intense it made his knees weak.
Kyouya slapped a hand over his mouth, his face turning a brilliant shade of red. "What the...! Nova! Turn it off! Turn it off!"
Inside his head, Sofia went completely silent for a moment as the System feedback loop made her aware of what he was experiencing.
Then, she burst into a fit of musical, uncontrollable laughter.
Oh my, Sofia giggled in his mind, her voice dripping with sheer, unadulterated mockery. I knew your skill was greedy, Kyouya, but I didn't realize you were an absolute pervert of gluttony. Tell me, Hero... how do I taste?
"Shut up!" Kyouya yelled to the empty cavern, his face burning with absolute humiliation as he began the long walk to the dungeon's exit.
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